This walk, or a similar walk, is available to download from our
Videowalks web site for just £1.49. The video walks take the form of detailed slideshows (typically around
20 minutes each) taking you all around the route, along with photographs and video clips of what you can see along the way.
The walks also come with printable directions in pdf format, including a 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map excerpt showing the
route and photographs showing key directions.

A circular from Horton in Ribblesdale over one of the 'Yorkshire Three Peaks'. The walk heads to Brackenbottom before climbing steadily over Brackenbottom Scar to join up with the Pennine Way path. This is followed up to the summit of Pen-y-ghent before dropping back down and returning via two short detours to Hunt and Hull Pots. The return to Horton is then via the enclosed walled Horton Scar lane, which offers panoramic views of the whole area.

Parking:

Pay and display car park in Horton in Ribblesdale (grid reference SD 807 726) - small amount of road side and layby parking available, but please park responsibly as Horton does get busy, especially at weekends and bank holidays.

Turn right out of the car park and follow the road past the Tourist Information Centre and the
Post Office. The road bends round to the left at the Golden Lion Hotel and straight away round
the bend there are two side roads. Turn down the second road that has a school sign at its
junction. From this junction, you get the first real view of what lies ahead. Pen-y-ghent
lies imposingly straight ahead. Carrying on up the lane past the primary school, the lane slowly
gains height and bends round to the right as it approaches Brackenbottom Farm. Immediately before
the farm, turn left at the wooden signpost claiming "Pen-y-ghent Summit 1¾ miles" through a wooden gate.

Path heading up from Brackenbottom Farm

Thirty yards further on, climb the stile and immediately turn left following a very well trodden
footpath up the side of the wall. Remember though that the early months of the year are lambing
times and dogs must be kept under very close control preferably on a lead. Sheep and lambs are
very evident in the fields in the early parts of the climb. Whilst progressing up the first field,
even though Pen-y-ghent may disappear from view, the more height gained affords a splendid panoramic
view behind of Horton, Ingleborough and Whernside.

Path just prior to meeting Pennine Way

Continue on up the hill closely following the wall until you meet a second wall that intersects the
first at right angles. Climb over the stile built into the wall and continue onwards in the same
direction following the undulating path which is slowly gaining height. Continue over the next stile
built into another intersecting wall and again carry on in the same direction heading for the right-hand
corner of Pen-y-ghent. From here the whole of Pen-y-ghent comes into view. Continuing over a wooden
stile, the path bends a little to the left before returning to its original line again following the wall.
Shortly after the next double stile is passed, a man-made flight of stairs is climbed to reach the stile
where the Pennine Way is joined.

View upwards from stile

Turning left over this stile, the climb now really starts in earnest. Whilst the path upwards may not
be clearly visible from this stile, by progressing further up, the path unfolds. The path now rises
very steeply and becomes less distinct, with the most distinct one skirting the grassy edge and coming
back round a little to the left to pass in front of a large almost vertical crag. Keeping straight ahead
(a little scrambling may be necessary) the path briefly flattens before another very steep and rocky
climb marked by cairns. Towards the top of this a little scrambling may again be necessary, before the
path gradient flattens dramatically and returns to being very well defined. The path runs almost parallel
twenty yards to the right of a wall and slowly rises for the final few minutes walk until the trig point
is reached.

View of Hunt Pot next to path down

Over the wooden stile a few metres from the trig point, a sign points in the three main directions down
from the top (Dale Head, Horton and Foxup) with the Horton path the one to follow (walking away from the
wall). The path snakes downwards and then turns to the right to follow the edge of a steep cliff. Down
to the left the path home can be clearly seen with Hunt and Hull Pots also visible. The path continues
downwards following the edge of the cliff until the sign is reached where the path takes a sharp left.

Stream at entrance to Hunt Pot

Vertical drop into Hunt Pot

The path straight on here is one of the Three Peaks routes (see separate walk). Follow the path around
and down to the left. Continue on down this well defined path and over the stile on the wall. After
about fifty metres a little detour can be made. Twenty metres off the path to the left lies Hunt Pot
where a stream disappears into a hollow in the ground. Do not get too close though as the hollow is a
two hundred foot vertical shaft.

View of Hull Pot

Old river course into Hull Pot

Returning to the main path, negotiate the next double stile and a few yards further on a path comes in
from the right, whilst the way home is down Horton Scar Lane to the left. Before entering the lane, a
very impressive detour can be undertaken by walking for about five hundred metres in the opposite direction
following the Foxup sign. If it is misty it is advisable to stick closely to the wall on the right as Hull
Pot is a huge, steep sided crater nearly one hundred metres long and fifteen metres deep. The crater is a
very impressive sight after heavy rain, when waterfalls are formed over its side.

Return back to the lane entrance and go through the gate in the direction of the signpost "BW Horton in R 1¼".
Proceed down the walled lane, and straight on through a gate. As the houses of Horton come into view where the
lane bends sharp left, the car park is visible straight ahead. Continue until a junction is reached, follow the
right-hand fork down to the main road. Turn right and follow the road for the final few yards back around to
the car park.